Austin officers face potential grand jury for shooting mass shooting gunman

A Texas Progressive District A lawyer said he will not seek charges against Austin police officers who shot a gunman who killed three people and wounded 13 others in a suspected terror attack amid speculation they could face a grand jury.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza issued a statement after Gov. Greg Abbott said he would ultimately have the final say on whether the officers should be charged or convicted in court.

“These officers are heroes, and it goes without saying that my office is not seeking and will not seek any charges,” Garza said. “Narratives to the contrary are false, intentionally false, and are being promoted for obvious political purposes.”

Garza’s office was the subject of criticism after it became known that officers would likely face a grand jury as part of a 2021 policy requiring all officer-involved shootings and serious use-of-force incidents to be presented to a grand jury for review.

The Austin Police Department and the FBI are investigating a shooting at Buford’s on West 6th Street in Austin, Texas, on March 1, 2026. (Stephanie Tassi/NoorPhoto via Getty Images)

The review is part of a policy instituted by Garza, said Doug O’Connell, whose law firm O’Connell West was appointed to represent the officers at the request of the Austin Police Association.

O’Connell said Garza pushed for the policy at the direction of the Wren Collective, a progressive criminal justice reform nonprofit that supports liberal Democratic prosecutors and is made up primarily of former district attorneys seeking to reform the American justice system.

“I believe the Wren group directed the attorney general to review cases involving officers in this way,” O’Connell told Fox News Digital. “They appear to be very anti-law enforcement officers.”

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza speaks at a news conference. (Jay Gunner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

Austin police officers shot and killed Ndiaja Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal, early Sunday. I opened fire at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden bar, killing 21-year-old Savitha Chan, 30-year-old Jorge Pederson, and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Garza’s office.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Wren Collective founder Jessica Brand thanked responding officers for their actions, which she credited with saving more lives.

Paxton is calling for tougher scrutiny after deadly rampage in Texas by suspect who was a naturalized citizen

Police said that Ndiaja Diagne (53 years old) shot two people dead and injured 14 others. He was wearing a shirt with the Iranian flag on it. (Obtained by Fox News)

She added: “Three people were killed in a mass shooting last week, more people were injured, families are grieving and the entire city is in mourning.” “The officers did a heroic job and stopped what could have been an even greater tragedy. As an Austin resident, I thank them, and I also thank the people who are providing support to so many victims and their loved ones right now.”

O’Connell said Garza campaigned to target police officers in an anti-police climate.

The DA began the review in 2021 amid calls for more accountability for law enforcement after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which also sparked nationwide calls to defund police agencies.

In addition to worrying about violence directed at them, officers now have to worry about potential legal action, O’Connell said.

“Every time an officer is sent to handle a violent criminal call, they have to think: I could be killed, or, depending on how things go, I could be charged,” O’Connell said.

In a post on X, Abbott He praised the officers while noting that Garza’s office is not the end all if the officers involved are charged or convicted in court.

Sources say the suspect in the Austin shooting was wearing an Iranian flag T-shirt during the attack

Austin police are investigating a shooting on West 6th Street on Sunday in which three people were shot before the gunman was killed by responding authorities. (Jay Gunner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

“These police officers are heroes who saved lives,” he wrote on X. “No matter what the district attorney does, I will have the final say in the fate of these police officers.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office to clarify his statements.

Texas State Rep. Mitch Little, a Republican who previously served as impeachment counsel for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, told Fox News Digital that there is no legal justification for having a grand jury for every officer-involved shooting.

“The only explanation for this is the leftist ideological orientation on the part of the district attorney’s office,” he said.

O’Connell said much of the criticism of mandatory review stems from its lack of transparency.

“There’s nothing fair or balanced about it. The district attorney has all the power when it comes to grand juries,” he said, noting that defense attorneys are not allowed to be present or present evidence.

“We know that Grand juries “We were manipulated because we had to defend the officers who were charged.”

Members of the FBI and local law enforcement investigate outside Buford’s Pub downtown on March 1, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Three people are dead and 14 others are hospitalized after a mass shooting early Sunday morning. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association, the union that represents noncommissioned officers, said he believes there is already “sufficient information” to publicly show that a grand jury is not necessary.

“There is no need to subject these officers to this, especially since it takes more than a year in almost every case to be presented to a grand jury,” he wrote Tuesday on Channel X. “This is a very long time and adds stress to officers who have already been through a lot.”

Related article